Possible 1969-S Error

Thanks everyone. Does Anyone have a good list of years to look for when searching rolls. I try and get my daughter $40 every week or so but we havent found much. I want her to get a good find to cement her interest before too long.

thanks

ya she's filled cent and quarter books up. Recently she's been looking for silver coinage but when I showed her the variations and errors that were out there she got really excited. I was just wondering if there was a good comprehensive list of Errors and variations out there. we've compiled a list from the Red Book and from the LCR.

thanks

wow, TMI...

thanks

we are definatley in over our heads.

Let me ask a sorting question then. how much time do you guys spend looking at a particular coin in any given roll? Do you look at every coin for possible variation?

I believe our resident expert(and worldwide expert for that matter) coppercoins sorts via the last numeral of the date to start with. Then you bunch them into decades maybe? he will be along and should see this post and can answer.

Having said that, he also has a book published called "looking through Lincoln Cents" I think? Can't remember the exact name even though I own a copy. Doah. It would be a great resource to have on hand.

One other thing, while I am not an error collector or die variety collector, I do enjoy reading the posts here in this forum. From what I understand, get yourself familiar with what a coin "should" look like and the errors/varieties will be easier to find. This will take TIME though. If you pick up a coin and flip through pages of a book and online looking to see if it's something, I don't think you will get anywhere fast and frustration will be quick. Find yourself a normal cent, study it as a baseline, and then just start scanning things. Eventually lots of folks see things that are not there because they are trying to hard. Post pictures here and the experts will help.

One final note. Coppercoins has probably searched through millions of cents in his life and there are still posts and "finds" listed here that he himself has never found. Just to give you an idea of how long it may take to find something..... Good luck and have patience.

The searching process around here works much like Tighe said - I take ten containers large enough to split my pile into ten equal parts (usually gallon jugs with screw-on lids) and sort the coins by last digit. I always sort wheats and memorials separately, so for instance in my memorial #6 container would go all coins ending in 6 - 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006. Once I've sorted that far, I'm ready to search them, but I could go the extra step and sort the decades - I rarely do.

I look through the coins using a 3/4" fluted piece of ash 1x2 that's long enough to fit 25 coins. The flute is just about half as deep as one coin. With the coins laid out across the board, I can look at all 25 coins without touching any of them. I have a second identical piece of wood that I lay on top of the 25, flip the whole thing over, and voila...I have 25 reverses to look through.

When I lay out memorials, I lay them in four groups - all the bronze cents at one end, zinc cents to 1988 in the next group, 1989-1992 in the next group, then everything after 1992 in the last group. This allows me to look for transitional reverse cents as I go through them without getting confused.

The system works for me - I can go through cents at the rate of a roll every 2-3 minutes (until I find something, of course). The primary time saver is that I only have to 'touch' the coins once to lay them face up on my stick. I use the two sticks together to flip the coins, then when I'm done, they go into two discard bins - one for bronze and one for zinc.

I'll look around for some images to upload.

I have been searching probably about 1 year. I have found quite a few Doubled Dies. My best Doubled Die found would probably be my 1972-1D0-008. All the letters in "In God We Trust" are clearly doubled. I have only found one WAM (Its a business strike with a proof reverse. I have filled an entire 1975-Present Lincoln Cent in MS60+ condition. To me it was a great year and I really don't search as much as alot of people do here. I definitely am hooked. I have a small excel sheet I keep on my computer while I search. It has every year of coin and a hyperlink to photos of that years errors/varieties.

The best thing I have done is register for this site. It really is a wealth of information that is great for someone just starting and also for experienced collectors.

Happy Hunting!

Being as busy as I am, I don't look through the bulk of coins as many of my counterparts do. My method is a couple of rolls at a time. I'll roll it around once to inspect the edges, looking for minor clips, reeding or lettering errors (if that applies), etc. Then flip to one side, check lettering, date, and MM. Check design elements -- facial features, etc. Check the field for anything unusual -- clashes, etc. Then flip and repeat. There is definitely an advantage to sorting first -- being able to compare features from one coin to the next, but when I'm only looking at 2 or three rolls in a sitting, I may only end up with one or two coins per year, or 4 or 5 per decade, so the sorting ends up taking up time.